Paper ball ornament – Christmas card icosahedron

Here are my paper ball ornament instructions to use leftover Christmas cards. I always feel like hoarding the beautiful cards friends send me and this DIY Christmas ornament makes a great use of them. Added bonus: it’s a little math lesson too!

Supplies for paper ball ornament

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To make this paper ball ornament you will need Christmas cards or festive card stock, double-sided tape or glue, a circle template such as a Duck Tape roll, scissors, pencil or marker, and thin ribbon or twine.

• Baker’s twine 
• ¼ or ½ inch satin ribbon or tinsel metallic cord. You will need about 4 inches to make a hanging loop.
• Double sided tape ½ inch scrapbooking tape
• Scissors

Instructions

• Choose Christmas cards to use for the paper ball ornament. You will need 20 circles for each ornament.
• I use a Duck Tape roll to trace circles. This makes exactly the right size to fit the ½ inch double-sided tape. You could make larger circles. I found making smaller circles very difficult to fold. I trace on the right side of the card so I can see what part of the design will show. (If you have a large circle paper punch, use that!)
• Cut the circles out, cutting inside your tracing line.
• On the back of each circle, draw straight lines to make an equilateral triangle. Each line should touch the edge of the circle and each other. Or you can try folding the card by estimating. You may want to make a triangle template to trace onto each circle.
• Fold the “ears” towards the printed side of the card, so that you have a triangle.
• Line up 10 of the cards and stick the ears to each other to make a straight line of cards. This means one triangle point will face up and the next one will face down.

  

  

  

  
  
• Make this line of 10 cards into a circle by sticking the two end ears together.
• Make two caps for the ornament. Use 5 cards and stick them together so that the points of the triangles are meeting together. Cut a 4-inch piece of ribbon and fold in half. Stick the raw ends of the ribbon into one of the caps to use for hanging. (Or use a hole puncher to make a hole in one of the ears to attach the hanger.)
• Stick the caps to the two sides of the circle you made earlier.
• Or you can use white glue to assemble the ornament. You may want to put some on a disposable dish and use a small paintbrush to apply. Hot glue will work too.

Resource links

• http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Icosahedron.html
  • Icosahedron from Wolfram MathWorld
• http://www.diyncrafts.com/9606/decor/20-hopelessly-adorable-diy-christmas-ornaments-made-paper
  • 20 DIY paper Christmas ornaments from DIY & Crafts